Soul-self
by angelofdarkness011
Summary: Is raven in love with slade or just in love with his darkness? He appears once again to the titans surprise but something seems different about him...has slade truely changed or is his truth hiding the in the shadows?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The story you are about to read is about the teen titans and because it's a "Lost episode" it must be read as such. This means you have instant scene changes to represent the different character experiences from different locations but still within the same time frame. Also it means jumps forward in time and character flashbacks. Also you can also assume that every chapter is like a commercial break even though they have names assigned to them. Also because this is fan written it means that it is not confined within the rating limit assigned to this series. Every chapter can also be thought of as a commercial break.

Disclaimer: I do not own the teen titans, there logo, any of the images put in the story or any of its characters. Only the story belongs to me, this also goes for the chapters that follow.


	2. Chapter one: Bewitched

**Chapter one: Bewitched**

Slade thought to himself as he watched her, bewitched by how beautiful she look's under the night rain on that rooftop waiting to ambush yet another criminal. She had on a face of utter focus and concentration, one which hasn't seemed to age a day since he last saw her and yet her eye's showed a maturity that was not there before. "Why" was the only word that escaped his lip's before vanishing into the darkness.

"Raven now!" screams robin seeing that raven was distracted. "It would be safer to signal her rather than to let her miss her chance" he thought to himself.

Raven quickly regained her ground on the situation and flew down landing in front of the fleeing criminal, blocking his only means of escape. Dr. Light knowing full well the dept's of ravens darkness surrendered. The fear in his eye's brought her great comfort and yet at the same time she felt a kind of fear herself.

**-Later at titan's tower-**

"You ok raven, you seemed a little distracted back there" said robin with great concern. He knows raven isn't easily distracted and when she is, it's always when it's really bothering her.

"Yea, if robin didn't call you up, we would still be chasing down Dr. Light" said beast boy.

"Come on BB cut raven some slack, it's not like you don't have your moments" cyborg said sending a smile in ravens direction. "I bet raven can name a few."

Beast boy annoyed just said "anyway back to the real point." At this point beast boy and cyborg were just looking at each other as if to challenge one another.

"Friend's please let's listen to the word's raven will soon be speaking" said star fire trying to separate beast boy and cyborg who were now locked in some kind of stare contest.

"Uhhh" raven just rolled her eyes and in a flash of darkness she was gone.

"Was it something I said?" Beast boy said, feeling kind of sad that he paid more attention to cyborg then raven.

"I'll go talk to her….alone." said robin while looking at his friend's. Robin started to walk down the hall, suddenly remembering how the last time she was so distracted, trigon who turned out to be her father, was going to take over the world. He did succeed for a short time until robin and slade teamed up to find raven deep within trigons underworld. Robin found her, leaving slade to go his own way to regain his life. Finally raven defeated her father and saved the world. "She always blamed herself because she was the portal that brought him here. She always thought she was evil but she still did good things." Robin was in such a deep thought he almost missed ravens door.

"Raven, can we talk?" robin said hoping she was going to tell him what was going on with her.

The door open's "come in" was all he heard, almost in a whispering voice. It sent a chill through him but he knows raven can be very dark when she wants to be. So he just walked in.

Sitting on the bed next to her robin said in a concerned voice "Raven what happed out there today? Is everything ok?"

Raven looking out the window from where she was sitting and say's "I just felt like someone was watching me, it felt strange like if I had known what it was. Then all of a sudden the feeling disappeared right before I heard you call out to me."

"Any idea who or what it was."

"Not really, I just know it seemed familiar." Raven said just staring at the full moon. It lit her room perfectly. The lighting gave robin the chance to see her face of worry…."no it looks more like longing" he thought to himself now growing even more concerned.

Beast boy who was now a fly on raven's wall overheard the entire conversation but he was more focused on that look on her face, that look of loneliness but also like if she was waiting for something or someone. For some reason the very thought made beast boy feel worried, but of what or better yet of who?

**-That very same night-**

"The titan's are fast asleep now's my chance" say's slade. Slowly opening ravens window he makes his way in with not even one alarm tripped. Only the moon light show's evidence of him being inside titan's tower. He makes his way towards raven's bed, using his ninja stealth to silently maneuver over anything in his way.

"No…Get away…stop" the word's escaped ravens lip's as she tossed and turned in her bed.

"She must be having a bad dream" slade thinks to himself. He gently strokes her hair and she start's to calm down. "How many of these have you suffered though my dear raven?" slade whisper's while placing the object he came there to deliver on her bedside.

Slowly he makes his way out the window once more not noticing that his moon lighted shadow is being surrounded by some kind of black aura. He jumps out but not before looking back at raven. Somewhere in the back of his mind he wonders how she can bewitch him so easily, even while she sleeps.

That morning raven awakens to see a rose next to her bed. A white rose none the less. She looks around her room trying to find where someone could have entered from or if there was even a sign that someone was there. Raven get's up and walks to her window, she tries to open it to let in some air when all of a sudden she see's images of slades face appear in her mind. Thrown back by what she sees she falls right on her bed, when once again she sees images of slade but this time it was from the dream she had last night. Trying to regain herself she hears slades voice almost at a distance "How many of these have you suffered through my dear raven?"


	3. Chapter two: To resist or not to resist

**Chapter two: To resist or not to resist.**

"Are you sure it was him?!" robin said with a now worried face.

"No way raven, it can 't be true!" beast boy said almost sounding as if he was accusing raven of lying.

"It's true and I am sure of it. Slade has returned." Raven said while at the same time in the back of her mind hoping that the reason why was not the one she had in her nightmare last night.

"This guy doesn't know when to quit." Cyborg say's with a serious look on his face.

"But the question of importance is why has he returned?" star fire says with a concerned look.

Robin stand's in the middle of his friend's "It doesn't matter cause no matter what he does or how bad he does it"

"The teen titan's are going to bring him down" cyborg says finishing robins uplifting speech.

There confidence gave comforting reassurance to the rest of the team. Except raven who now didn't know how to react. The dream she had last night still haunted her thoughts. "But why would he leave me a rose?" raven thought to herself. She was still wondering if keeping that little detail from her friends was a good idea. Raven only told them that she had seen him in a vision and that she felt his presence close by the titan's tower.

"Ok team let's split up and search the city for any evidence of slades return. Star fire you take the north side of the city. Cyborg you take the south. Beast boy you have the west and I will take the east." Robin says, giving his standard search mission order's to the team. Now looking at raven he says ""Raven you stay here and coordinate the search."

"Does that mean we have to skip breakfast?" says beast boy while holding his growling stomach.

"The faster we find what we need the faster you can eat" says raven.

"Besides it's not like ravens going to eat your precious toe fu" cyborg says tauntingly while looking at beast boy.

"Hey! Toe fu is way better than any meat! Besides if raven try's it she might just end up liking it, then eating it all" beast boy says while picturing his latest little conspiracy theory in his mind.

"Ravens right, the faster we get this done the faster we can all get something to eat. So let's go team!" says robin eager to confirm ravens disturbing news.

"Right" says the rest of the team before heading on their way.

But before he ran out the door to begin his search beast boy paused to look back at raven. "Don't worry raven, slade isn't going to hurt anyone else this time." He thought to himself, remembering that every time slade showed up it always ended up causing great hardship to the team.

Raven now alone in the tower starts to update everyone on her status. "Ok, I got everyone on GPS monitoring and I am monitoring all frequencies for any signs of strange activity that might give away slades whereabouts."

"If you wanted to find me raven all you had to do was call." Slade say's in his usual taunting tone of voice.

"Slade" raven say's turning back in surprise to see the man that has been haunting her dreams and her team's nightmares. She stares at him not believing what she was seeing, "he really has returned" raven thought to herself.

"But of course I have always preferred to talk in private, your friends can be so…interrupting" slade says while walking closer to raven, "I always knew I was cruel but her eyes can be even more so" slade thought to himself as raven stood looking at him with angry eyes that could pierce into his very soul.

Raven starts to walk backwards trying to regain the distance between them that was now closing in ever so quickly. Until she feels the computer keyboard hit her back. She quickly turns around to contact her friends, who were still focused on their search for a man who was right under their noses to begin with. When all of a sudden slade throws one of his devices to the computer, short circuiting it.

"Ahhh" say the rest of the titan's, for the short circuit caused a sound feedback loop to their communication devices.

"What was that?" says cyborg.

"Why do I hear the sound of a targ's cry's." star fire says while searching for the alien creature she mistook the feedback sound for.

"Dude! Now I won't be able to hear right for a week!" beast boy says while tapping his ear.

"Raven what happened? Raven respond! Titans return to the tower. I have a feeling we have a guest in the tower and I would hate to miss this reunion." Robin says with an angry taunt in his voice already knowing who was waiting for them in the tower.

**-Back at titans tower-**

"How can you still be alive? You should have been destroyed along with my father"

"True but if you weren't blinded by the hate you have for me you would have remembered correctly my dear raven that I made a deal with your father. So I could regain the life that was taken from me."

"Well I do remember it correctly and I know for a fact that you lost your soul when terra defeated you."

"Details my dear raven, mere details. But luckily I found my soul and returned it to its rightful place. Then after I escaped I managed to catch the battle you had with your father. I must say my dear raven you do surprise me, your much stronger then you lead on."

"STOP!" raven screamed "I am not your "dear raven!"" she said breathing deeply remembering that her nightmare was so similar to the events that were now unfolding. When suddenly she saw slade go silent. He just stared at her. For a moment slades mind went on pure instinct and he started walking towards her.

"What are you doing?" raven says remembering that in this part of her dream slade reached out and held her in his arms, when all of a sudden a dark flame engulfed them both. "No, slade wouldn't do that." she thought to herself. The very memory made her breathing deepen even more than before.

But before slade was within arm's reach of raven, the glass behind her breaks and the titans attack. "Get away from her!" was all that was heard in that once quit room. Beast boy now standing in front of raven is enraged by what he sees. The very sight of slade brought back memories of how he lost terra to this evil man. "It will not happen again!" beast boy thought to himself as he morphed into a tiger and joined his friends in the attack. Raven wanted to join the fight but seeing slade in danger made her feel something she couldn't or better yet didn't want to understand.

Finally getting hit by one of the titan's devastating combination attacks, slade falls to the ground. At that moment ravens eyes widen and she falls to her hands and knees."No" was all slade could say from the ground on which he lay, trying to reach out to raven. The titans notice slades strange reaction and look back. Only to see ravens unconscious body lying on the ground.

"Raven!" screams beast boy while running to her side.

"What have you done to her?!" screams robin while holding slade firmly on the ground. This time robin was intent on not letting slade escape his grasp.

"We have to take her downstairs to the infirmary" says cyborg looking very concerned for raven.

"Then go! Star fire and I will deal with slade!" robin says while still holding slade.

Cyborg gently picks up raven. "Let's go!" was all he said to beast boy before running to the hallway. Beast boy followed not far behind him.

Pushing slade up against a wall robin screams "Answer me slade! What have you done to raven?!" Star fire now behind robin in attack position ready to strike if slade even dares move a muscle out of place.

"I have done nothing to her! I would never do anything to harm raven!" slade says in an honest voice which also showed concern for her well being.

Robin almost believes slades clam but remembers all the years of lies and deceit slade has thrown at the titans in countless battles.

"You must have done something or she would not have fallen in such a way" says star fire while trying to look as intimidating and as glowing with her green energy as possible. Which is her people's way of showing anger and strength.

"Your right, I may have done this!" screams slade. He kicks robin in his stomach forcing him to let go. Then he begins to doge star fires attacks until he jumps up, grabs one of her hands and sling shoots her to the ground. Then finally slade jumps out the window, completing his escape.

"No! He escaped again!" robin hits the ground with his fist only to be interrupted by a communication from cyborg. "Robin, star fire get down here." Cyborg was monitoring there little skirmish with slade while he was attending to raven. Thanks to the mechanical part of his body which greatly improved his ability to multi-task.

"Will she be ok?" asks beast boy concerned and by ravens side.

"I don't know. It seems like she's been hurt and now she is in some kind of meditation state in order to heal herself." Cyborg says trying to interpret the readings on the monitor as best he could.

"But there was no sign of a fight before we went in; they weren't even in an attack position."Beast boy said trying to remember what he saw before they broke the glass.

"Then what occurred before we arrived to have hurt raven in such a way?" star fire says with a curious look on her face.

"I don't think it happened before we arrived. I think it happened after." Robin says with a very thinkative look.

"No way! Slade didn't touch her after we came in, I am sure of it!" beast boy exclaimed with great confidence remembering how he willingly stood in front of raven to protect her from slade.

"He didn't need too." At this point his friends were very confused.

"Raven went down at almost the exact same moment slade did. I think he did something to raven that makes her feel what he does." Says robin. knowing full well slades capability in the field of nanotechnology. Which he used once before against the titans but was focused on using it to hurt or even destroy the titans unless robin became his apprentice. But what robin couldn't figure out is why he would use it only on raven. The other titans also remembered this and they did not like the memory much less the thought of him doing it again.

"I can run some tests to see if it's one of slades old tricks" cyborg says knowing his friends understood full well what he meant.

"Ok, but run them in the morning, raven needs to heal first." Robin wants to make sure she recovers before even touching her. He has a feeling she will need all the strength she can get. Especially since slade seems to be focusing all his attention on her.

"Alright. I guess we could all use some rest anyway." Cyborg says while he sets the codes to lock down the tower.


	4. Chapter three: Resistance is futile

**Chapter three: Resistance is futile.**

**-That same night-**

"What happened?" raven whispers while she awakens slowly. Still feeling a bit groggy from the healing process. She looks around only to notice its night but thankfully the moon light still kept her good company while it shined in from the window.

"Slade." Raven says quickly, when she finally regains her ground on what has happened. She felt an overwhelming sense of worry for him, that at the same time made her feel just plain wrong.

"I am here. I have not left your side my dear raven. I made sure to re-enter the tower before the security measures were put in place." Slade says while walking out of the shadows from which he could strangely blend in too so well.

Raven didn't realize slade was there when she said his name. She felt embarrassed and frightened all at the same time. "You…you just get away from me." She tried to say the words but even she could not get them out with the hate and disgust she should have said them in.

"Raven, my dear raven. Your own words betray you. I know you can feel it too. I can see it in your eyes. I can feel it in your heart" Slade says while he walks slowly towards her.

"How can he know exactly what I feel?" Raven thought to herself as she stares at him walking towards her. "No, get away!" raven says trying to ignore these strong feelings that slade was provoking in her.

"You say those word's way to often my dear" says slade remembering her saying them the night he left her the white rose. "You seem to be running from something that even your dreams might be telling you to follow" slade says knowing by the look on her face her dream was about him.

"So it was you, I knew it was you who left me the white rose. But why would you do it?"

"Don't you know my dear; a white rose is equal to a dozen red roses"

"You know what I mean" raven says while finally getting up from the medical bed.

"Raven, your power…your darkness has bewitched me. That I know I have made clear to you, so why do you deny me? Why don't you answer me…please raven. You don't have to fear what you feel for me. I promise I won't hurt you. I don't think I can even try." Slade says with a kind and honest voice while looking deep into ravens eyes.

Raven couldn't believe how slade was behaving. She never imagined he could even feel these emotions. She always thought they were lost in his evil heart. But for some reason unknown to her the words he was saying made her tremble in both a fear and in a desire she cant believe she was feeling, especially for this man…for slade!

"No, this can't be happening. It's impossible. This is just too wrong!" raven said while trying to walk past him. But slade stopped her by putting an arm around her waist. Now there were standing side by side.

"Raven how can it be impossible? You could even feel my pain...here." slade says while he slowly moved his hand to her rib cage which still felt a bit sore. "Shouldn't that also be impossible? But for some reason you can. So can "we" be so difficult to believe"

Raven turns to face slade with her now teary eyes. "Why do I feel what you do? Why do I want to be with you? Why do I need to fight "this" so much?"

Slade raps his arms around raven's waist "Because we are meant to be my dear raven. We both serve the dark…we both belong in the dark. Please don't fear me, just love me and I will be your slave"

Raven now lost in slades words and her own emotions starts to touch slades cold mask. She starts to take it off, when all of a sudden the door opens.

"Raven what are you doing!" Beast boy screams in disbelief. He was just going to check up on raven to make sure she was doing ok. His worry for her kept him up but he never expected to run into what he was just witnessing. Slade quickly grabs his mask and puts it on before either of them gets the chance to see his face. Enraged by what he sees beast boy quickly turns into a big silver back gorilla, but obviously it's green instead of silver. He starts to charge at slade.

"NO!" raven screams standing in front of slade, stopping beast boy dead in his tracks."You will not hurt him; you can't hurt him…without hurting me." Raven obviously meaning that, in more ways than one. Beast boy had totally forgotten about that. He would never dream of hurting raven even if it did mean stopping slade.

"I can understand why you're protecting him but what I don't understand is why he is here or why you two were standing so close. I mean I understand why but not…why?!" Beast boy was still trying to make sense of everything. So it's no wonder he was still having difficulty putting his thoughts into words.

"It's because I love him!" ravens emotions were so stirred up at this point she couldn't control herself any longer. Slade hearing those words escape ravens lips felt amazed and overjoyed. "So she does feel it too, I knew it." slade thought to himself. Raven turns to face slade "I can't fight this feeling any longer, I love you and I don't know…much less care why." For a moment she looks back at beast boy only to see him in a state of disbelief. She realizes that he will soon get enraged by what she has just said to their worst enemy. Looking back at slade she says "But you have to leave now, I need to talk to my friends about what has just happened…about us."

"Your wish is my command, my dear raven. When you're ready, just meet me at the pier." Slade said while running his hand through her hair. Slowly he starts to walk backwards until he reaches the open window. He jumps out fading into the dark of the night.

Beast boy couldn't believe what he was seeing, much less what he was hearing. He didn't even know how to react. He felt so betrayed by raven. Finally, he started to feel something…anger."How could you do this to me…I mean to us…I mean to your friends?!" Beast boy said still feeling hurt by what just happened.

"I haven't done anything to you or our friends! Wait a minute…what are you even doing up this late?!" Raven said now curious as to why he was there in the first place.

Beast boy thrown off guard by ravens question answers '' I just wanted to see if you were getting better and if you needed anything. Which obviously you were doing perfectly fine!" For the first time in a while raven sees beast boy very serious. Finally she realizes why he was so angry with her."Beast boy you like me don't you?"

Beast boy quickly changes the subject "This isn't about me. This is about you and slade. How can you even think of loving him? He has been our worst enemy for years; terra is dead because of him" beast boy starts to remember everything slade had ever put them through. The flashbacks of all the battles and how much he suffered when he lost terra caused his rage to flood his thoughts and emotions. "Raven what's wrong with you? You're starting to act like your father!" he blurted out. When at that exact same moment he stopped. Realizing what he just let his rage do. He knows very well he should never say that, not even under these conditions. He knows all too well how much raven isn't like her father and even more so how much she hated him.

Taken back by his extremely hurtful words raven just looked at beast boy in a silent surprise. When finally she looks down saying in a low voice "I will be in my room, you might want to wake the others and tell them what has just happened." Ravens eyes start to water and a tear falls from her face but before it could hit the ground she disappears in a flash of darkness.


	5. Chapter four: Same difference

**Chapter four: Same difference.**

"You said what?!" robin says while looking at beast boy knowing full well that, that comment was only going to encourage her to go with slade even more.

"I know it was wrong to say. I was just caught up in the heat of the moment."

"But why raven?" star fire says while looking at robin, who was concerned for raven but mad at beast boy for the extremely unnecessary comment he gave to raven.

"This is definitely a new trick slades pulling on us." cyborg says scratching his head.

"This isn't a trick or one of slades schemes. This is different" robin says almost sure of what he was saying.

"How did you come up with that conclusion?!" cyborg says now very confused as well as his other friends.

"First of all he didn't attack raven. Second he doesn't seem to want to destroy the city or to even have an interior motive. Third he has been trying to avoid confrontation with us as much as he can. He could have just as easily gone after cyborg and beast boy when he was free or even take raven from the tower but he didn't. Lastly the strange connection he seems to have with raven. I know for a fact slade doesn't behave this way."

"Could he still be under trigon's control?" star fire says remembering how slade behaved differently when he worked for trigon.

"Impossible, raven defeated him." Cyborg answers.

"Stay here and try to figure out why raven feels this way about slade all of a sudden. I will go and have a talk with slade." Robin orders. Maybe having a theory about why all this was happening.

"I'll go with you." Says beast boy, not wanting robin to go alone.

"No, you have done enough already."

Beast boy looks at the ground as robins "clear" message sinks in. Now everyone is gone and he is alone in the titan's living room. "What have I done? I messed everything up, just like with terra." Beast boy says aloud only to hear the echo of the lonely room. "No, not this time. I will not lose another chance. I will not lose raven. I will not fail again!" beast boy says hitting the countertop and releasing an angry growl between his teeth.

* * *

"Raven, can we talk?" cyborg says while knocking on raven's door.

"I am concerned for our friend" says star fire while looking at cyborg.

"Don't worry we just have to figure out why she is behaving this way. It will be ok, I mean she has great friends to watch her back" cyborg says while placing his hand on star fires shoulder giving her the reassurance she needed to calm down.

The door finally opens "enter" was all they heard. Cyborg was the first to enter the room with star fire not far behind him. Once again her room was lit by the moon light. They saw raven packing. She always did travel light so it was just a small bag.

"Raven this is weird even by your standards" cyborg says as he watched her pack.

"I am in love with slade. It's weird I know but it's the truth." For some reason the words didn't come out as confidently as they did before.

"Friend, we fear you are under slades control" star fire was usually blunt when she spoke her mind, but she usually didn't know the right time to be so.

"I am not under slades control. He can't control me even if he wanted to. He doesn't have that kind of power anymore." Raven says not even looking at her friends, fearing to see the look on their faces.

"I know you can see this is all moving way to fast, even more so with slade of all people. Which may I remind you is an evil villain we have been fighting with for years. Even saying his name made us sick to our stomachs and now you're suddenly in love with him?" cyborg says moving around the room. Only to see a white rose on her nightstand. "Or at least I think it's suddenly?" Raven looks at him noticing he saw the white rose. She moves to block his view of it "Why are you asking me these questions. Shouldn't you be trying to talk me out of all this, not just trying to find out why I feel this way for him?"

"We are hoping to do both. If we learn why you are behaving so strangely perhaps we can help you." Star fire says stepping up from her earlier place behind cyborg.

"I don't need help. I just want to be alone." Raven says now holding her bag.

"Raven, we just want to know how all this started?" Cyborg quickly asks fearing raven might leave.

"It started that night we arrested Dr. Light. I felt something close by. Then again that night I had my vision about slade. I started to feel a desire to pursue what my instincts were telling me to do." Raven said now sitting on her bed.

"You mean what your emotions were telling you to do. That's not like you raven." Cyborg says sitting next to raven on the bed.

"Not at all" star fire says while making her way to ravens other bedside.

Raven was starting to feel uncomfortable with her friends sitting so close to her, especially in her room. She usually doesn't let anyone enter her room. It's almost a teen titan rule. When all of a sudden she realizes that what her friends were saying was true. She usually is in control of her emotions and she never could sense people so easily, especially from so far away. Slade himself couldn't provoke this in her, much less blend in with the darkness of the night almost as well as she did. Then she remembers that her emotions started to take over more and more as slade got closer to her, like the way the closer her friends got, the more uncomfortable she felt. "That's why I am so uncertain now, because of the distance that is now between us" raven thought to herself.

"Raven?" cyborg tries to call out to raven, who now looks like she is in a deep thought. "Is she ignoring us?" cyborg thought to himself.

"Friend please do not give us the shoulder made of ice" star fire says while looking at raven.

"Star fire I think you mean cold shoulder and don't worry I think I know what's wrong now" raven says while getting up and searching her books. Cyborg and star fire just stared at each other with no clue as to what she meant. She finds and opens a very old book, looking at its pages she stops as if she found what she was looking for. For a moment she looked happy as if she found the problem. But her face quickly went sad.

"What is it?" star fire says worried as to why her friend was sad.

"I am not in love with slade. I am in love with his darkness." Raven said almost as if the very words caused her pain.

"Wait what? Now I am even more confused?" Cyborg says while walking next to raven in hopes of seeing the answer she found in the book. "No way. We have to go warn robin, he went off to talk to slade!"

"What is wrong? Friends you are scaring me" Star fire says now fearing for robin's safety.

"No time, we have to get to the pier!" Raven says opening her window. "Come on we have to hurry!" Star fire, cyborg and raven leap from the window. Raven was the last to leave. In her haste she didn't realize that on her way out the window her cloak hit the small vase the white rose was in, causing it to smash to the ground.


	6. Chapter five: The power in understanding

**Chapter five: The power in understanding**

"Slade…Slade where are you?!" Robin screams confidante slade will not attack him.

"Well robin what an expected surprise. I knew you wouldn't give up a friend so easily." Slade said in his taunting voice.

"Slade we have to talk about your sudden interest in raven" Robin says trying very hard to control the anger saying slades very name provoked in him.

"There is not much too say robin. I have been bewitched by raven. I feel for her what you all cannot possibly understand" Slade said in his very confidante tone of voice.

"He always did have superiority complex" robin thought to himself. "When did you start feeling this way about raven?"

"If you most know, I started to fall for my dear sweet raven the night I escaped trigons underworld and saw how easily she defeated him. Her power was amazing. She was the light in all that darkness" slade said while also remembering that moment in time.

"Before you escaped trigons underworld did you take anything…did anything happen?" robin says hoping to confirm his suspicions.

"I retrieved my soul and escaped. Nothing more, nothing less." Slade said now growing tiresome of robin's questions.

"How did you retrieve your soul and how did you even get it back with your body?" robin says now fearing he was right in his theory.

"It was in the shape of an orb encased in some kind of dark flame. I just grabbed it. The flame did nothing to me so I figured it was a mere illusion, one of trigons tricks. So I pulled the orb close to me and my body just absorbed it." Slade said leaving out the part where he had to beat one of the guards to know how to do all of that.

"Don't you think that was too easy?" Robin asked now fearing what slade has done to himself.

"Trigon was self righteous and over confidante, he underestimated me!" slade screamed while pointing at robin.

"Sounds like someone I know" robin said smiling and looking at slade.

"You dare insult me!"

"You're a fool slade." Robin says confidently.

"And why is that?!" slade says just about ready to attack robin.

"You can't see the truth, what is really happening to you. As always you can't see what you have done to yourself." Robin says while pointing to slades reflection in the water. Slade at that moment notices his reflection had a black flame covering it.

"It's the black flame. But why, it was just an illusion!" Slade says now shockingly confused.

"No slade, it wasn't an illusion. What you absorbed was part of trigons darkness, more specifically the part that kept your unsouled body alive. It maintained the link between your body and your trapped soul so you could still use it without claiming your soul in the process. That's why you are in "love" with raven and why she felt more and more for you the closer you got to her. The darkness inside you is being attracted by ravens own darkness and what's more it's been controlling you, manipulating your emotions so it could get to raven. To someone that it recognizes as its master."

"No, impossible! Raven is not its master." Slade says while still trying to understand the situation he brought on himself.

"But when raven defeated its original master, it had no choice but to go to raven. As you well know raven is trigons daughter. Which means his blood and part of his darkness runs through her veins." Robin said while getting in a better defensive position.

"It all makes sense now. It was the darkness linking with her own that made her able to feel what I feel." Slade begins to understand everything that has been happening to him. "So I don't really love raven it's just been this darkness. Well let's see if we can put it to better use." Slade says while looking at his hands that now started to show the black flame. Luckily for slade he has had experience with this kind of darkness from the time trigon gave it to slade so he could retrieve raven in order for her to complete her destiny by becoming the portal that brought trigon to earth. But now that slade knows it's still there he is going to put it to good use.

"Don't even think about it about it slade!" beast boy screamed while jumping behind slade. Then morphing into a squid and holding him tight.

"Normally this would be difficult." Slade says suddenly beginning to laugh at how easy it's going to be to defeat the titans with his darkness. "But not with my darkness!" In a flash of darkness slade was free now holding beast boys squid neck, but with the pain beast boy morphed back to normal.

"Let him go slade!"

Slade suddenly feels a slight chill down his spine. "Well, well raven. My "dear" raven, you finally decided to join us." Slade says with an evil laugh escaping his lips after he spoke.

Raven looks at robin to see if he is alright. "We know raven, we know everything" robin says while looking at her. Her own expression showed him she knew as well. He was glad she was finally back to normal.

"I will not say it again slade! Let beast boy go!" raven said while her body is now being inflamed by her darkness. The darkness within slade sensing ravens own darkness also began to engulf slade. He started to feel stronger, faster, basically just better than the last time he had this power. His grip still firmly on beast boy's neck he says "or what raven, you and your friends will attack me? Don't forget we are still bound by our darkness. Whatever happens to me will happen to you too."

"Exactly" raven says while showing an evil smile on her face that made even slade feel afraid of what she meant.

All of a sudden raven screams "**Azarath Metrion Zinthos**" morphing her darkness into a dagger and puts it close to her chest, right were her heart is.

"Raven…No." Beast boy was barely able to say the words.

"Raven what are you doing?!" Robin screams while star fire, cyborg and he run towards her. Only to be stopped by her darkness, which has now bounded their legs to the ground.

"Please raven there has to be another way" star fire says while her eyes started to water. Cyborg informed her of the situation on the way to the pier. So she knew full well what was happening.

"Yea raven there has to be something else you can do. You can't just sacrifice yourself to kill slade like terra did. You should know by now that doesn't actually work!" Cyborg said while pointing at slade.

"I am not doing it to defeat slade, I am doing it to save beast boy." Raven said gently but loud enough for them all to hear. She closed her eyes and started to remember all the moments they have spent together as friends. All the good times, bad times and even the times she thought he was annoying or at least now they don't seem that way anymore. She felt foolish, what she was looking for was there the whole time. Just not in the way she expected it to be. Raven finally opens her eyes and smiles at beast boy. Beast boy opens his eyes wide with tears running down them, knowing full well what was going to happen next. "No" beast boy whispers as the very thought of what raven was going to do left him almost speechless.


	7. Chapter six: The price of a soul

**Chapter six: The price of a soul**

Slade opens his eyes wide realizing raven isn't bluffing. "NO!" was all he said before feeling a sharp pain in his chest. Finally he lets go of beast boy, who quickly runs to ravens side. Slade collapses to the ground, his hand on his chest and breathing hard. "No this cannot happen, not again. Not because of some girl." Slade says while turning to face the night sky.

"Raven isn't some girl, she's a teen titan" Robin says while walking towards him. "The teen titans will always win because we don't fight for ourselves…we fight for each other and that's what makes us stronger then you can ever be." Slade was about to speak but fell victim to his lethal injury.

"Raven" robin says while quickly looking over to her. He began to run to her knowing that soon she will suffer the same fate as slade.

"Raven, you can't die. I haven't gotten you to taste toe fu yet." Beast boy said with a sad smile and tears running down his face. Star fire was just crying while cyborg held her.

Robin finally reached them. "Raven no…you can't" robin said while putting his hand over her wound to try and stop the bleeding.

Raven smiled at robin then looked to beast boy and placed her hand on his cheek. "I'm sorry I didn't see how much you were trying to get me to…" was all raven could say before her eyes closed and her body went dead.

"No" beast boy caught ravens hand before it left his cheek."Come back raven…please…I love you, so you see, you can't die."

"Raven "was all robin could say as sadness stole his voice and tears rolled down his face.

Cyborgs face was also full of sadness and tears as he held the now fallen star fire. She had dropped to her knees when they went weak as she saw ravens eyes close.

"NOOOOO!" in a loud roar was all you heard throughout the city. Everyone that heard this painful cry went numb and felt only a chill of sadness run through them. At that moment everyone knew that something terrible has just happened to their hero's. Beast boy now on his hands and knees, breaths deeply from the painful cry he had just released moments ago. All of a sudden he realizes he is seeing his shadow. The full moon was still there and still shining bright. "Wait a minute, if slade could see his darkness in his reflection. Maybe, just maybe we could use his shadow to link his darkness with ravens" He said now looking at robin.

"It's worth a try." Robin says feeling hopeful that it might just work.

"I'll go get slade." Says cyborg.

"And I will take raven" says star fire while gently picking up her friends body.

Cyborg and star fire lift up the bodies of both slade and raven so that their shadows meet hand in hand. "It's not working" says star fire with her eyes once again starting to water.

"No, it will work…it has too!" In a final attempt to save his friend beast boy places his hand on ravens shoulder. "**Azarath Metrion Zinthos, Azarath Metrion Zinthos.**" Beast boy starts to chant ravens spell that she uses to summon her dark powers. Robin steps closer to him "Beast boy we tried to…"

"Look!" star fire says alarmed looking at raven's shadow. It was enflamed with her darkness. Robin quickly puts his hand on slades shoulder hoping to also stimulate his darkness "**Azarath Metrion Zinthos, Azarath Metrion Zinthos**"

Cyborg and star fire join in on the chant "**AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS!**"

Finally slades shadow was enflamed with the darkness. Soon they could see slades darkness begin to move onto raven. When all of a sudden, slades shadow seemed to be moving as if in pain. What happen next would stay with the titans forever. They could literally see the dark flame peel off of slades now struggling shadow. They could see his shadow scream in pain and yet no sound was heard. Finally his shadow returns to normal. But slades body turns to ash right in cyborgs hands. "No way" cyborg said while looking at his hands which were now covered in ash.

"Raven is breathing again!" star fire screamed in joy.

"She's alive?!" cyborg couldn't believe it. He quickly rushed to join his friends at raven's side.

"What I miss?" raven said with a smile while still lying on the ground, happy to still be alive and with her friends.

"Looks like in the end slade, in your own sick way, you got what you wanted while also getting what you deserve" Robin says while looking at the sun rise.

**-Later that same day at titan's tower-**

"You sure your ok raven?" robin says smiling but with his usual voice of concern.

"Wouldn't you like to rest?" star fire says backing up robins desire to make sure raven is ok.

"You kidding me, this is what? The second time raven has returned from certain doom." Cyborg says happy to see his friend is alive and well. "Raven escaped with not even a scratch, thanks to her new found abilities. Which healed her right up. ALL-YEAH!"

"Don't you mean boh-yea?" Raven said happy to see her friends so overjoyed that she is alive and well.

"Yea that's right. I will just add it too. BOH-YEA!" The titans merely laughed at this joyous moment and of cyborgs comment of course. All but beast boy, who just walked up to raven. Ravens cheeks started to turn red. "What?" was all she could say when suddenly beast boy grabs her and kisses her. Raven was surprised at first but then returned his kiss. Robin, cyborg and star fire where merely smiling at each other as if to say "Finally"

**The end...**


	8. Conclusion

**Conclusion**

**-Later that night-**

There was movement around the pier. Soon a figure stood over a candle, which lay at the exact same spot where slade had died. All of a sudden a white rose falls in front of the candle and the figure disappears.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed the story. It is my very first fanfiction...but to tell you the truth it started off as a bet my friend made saying if I could beat his other friends at writing a story. I won his litte "challenge". I remembered this place and decided to share it with the world...I did put a LOT of work and time into it and I wanted my work to serve...a better purpose. Anyway hope you enjoyed it :) BTW it might be the only one i write, I enjoyed making it but its not my thing to make this a hobby. Sorry if you liked it and want more but trust me this place doesnt lack good storys that surpass my own...by a lot. :)**


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